lled,
double-doored and double-locked, "excluding both light and fresh air,
and without accommodation of any description for warming and
ventilation." When this dungeon was discovered, the walls were covered
by frost a half inch in thickness; the bed was provided with two
comfortables, both wet and the outer one stiffly frozen, or, as Miss
Dix puts it, "only wet straw to lie upon and a sheet of ice for his
covering." Lest two locks should not be enough to hold this dangerous
man, his leg was tethered to the stone floor by an ox-chain. "My
husband," said the mistress, "in winter, sometimes of a morning rakes
out half a bushel of frost, _and yet he never freezes_; sometimes he
screams dreadfully and that is the reason we had the double wall and
two doors in place of one; his cries disturb us in the house." "How
long has he been here?" "Oh, above three years." Nothing in the
traditions of the Bastile could exceed these horrors, and yet they
were not the product of intentional cruelty, but of unfathomable
stupidity.

Disregarding the well-meant warnings of her attendant that he would
kill her, Miss Dix took his hands, tried to warm them in her own,
spoke to him of liberty, care and kindness, and for answer "a tear
stole over his hollow cheeks, but no words answered my importunities."
Her next step was to publish the terrible story in the Providence
Journal, not with a shriek, as might have been expected and justified,
but with the affected coolness of a naturalist. With grim humor, she
headed her article, "Astonishing Tenacity of Life," as if it had only
a scientific interest for anybody. If you doubted the statements, you
might go and see for yourself: "Should any persons in this
philanthropic age be disposed from motives of curiosity to visit the
place, they may rest assured that travelling is considered quite safe
in that part of the country, however improbable it may seem. The
people of that region profess the Christian religion, and it is even
said that they have adopted some forms and ceremonies which they call
worship. It is not probable, however, that they address themselves to
poor Simmons' God." Their prayers and his shrieks would make a strange
discord, she thinks, if they entered the ear of the same deity.

Having reported her discoveries to the men of science, she next
appealed to the men of wealth. Providence had at that date a
multi-millionaire, by the name of Butler; he left four millions to his
heirs. He